anyone can cook

Cooking up a Lie

Starter for @mpxabigail​

...

It felt like an impossible mission but he eventually made it to the entrance of the kitchen unseen after maneuvering from one room to another, further away from the watchful eyes of the employees and guests with each step. Only when he entered the room, did he notice that he must’ve held his breath at some point. But he had no time to rest. With a calming sigh, he walked over to her.

“Abigail, right?” his lips curved into a smile and his expression implicated that he was asking to make sure. Deceit. He knew exactly who he was talking to. “I’m Maxim and I was recently told you made the meal I was eating a few days ago.” Lies. He had never eaten anything here. “It was amazing!” His smile looked genuine and he made an effort to speak with just enough enthusiasm to sell his performance. “I was wondering if I could ask you for cooking lessons? I will pay you, of course.” Maxim hated how rushed the last part of his sentence sounded but he also knew that everything had a price. And money, was easily something he was willing to give up to reach his goal. 

The end of the night was fast approaching. With the final orders sent out to the dining room, Abigail had set to work cleaning up her station - clearing away any dirty dishes, throwing away any food scraps, and making sure everything was spotless in preparation for the next day. She always found this to be relaxing after a hectic evening at Noona; a good way to start winding down before she went home and collapsed in bed. It was easy to just let her mind drift as she cleaned up, going off into her own little world...

Abigail, right?

She looked up with a slight start when she heard her name, a look of confusion crossing her face to see a stranger in the kitchen. “Yes, that’s me,” she replied, offering him a smile before she went back to cleaning up her station. After all, Viggo wouldn’t be happy if he just saw her standing around chatting. “Oh, really? Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it!” Really, it was always a bit of a relief when a customer said that they enjoyed what she had made for them. It was validating - proof that she was right to stop studying engineering and follow her passion to the other side of the world.

Her smile dimmed somewhat when he asked her for cooking lessons, although she tried not to look too sheepish or unsure. After all, she was still learning, and she had only gotten as far as she was because a ghost had taught her everything she knew and helped her along the way. She would have been lying if she said that fact did not make her feel like a fraud more often than not. Any other chef in the kitchen would have been more qualified than her to give cooking lessons. But Maxim seemed nice, and he had even offered to pay... And, well, she had trouble saying no to people.

Ri-so-tto!

starter for @mpxabigail , 

...

The restaurant wasn’t extremely busy, so his wish was granted and somewhat short young woman with red hair hidden under her toque and Kai was quite surprised as he did not expect someone so young would be the artist behind the delicacy he just had as dinner. “Hi! Sorry to interrupt your work but, that uh, ri-so-tto was absolutely amazing!” He smiled quite enthusiastically, bowing at her in appreciation. “My name is Kai by the way. Ahm, when you’d be less busy, you think we could talk a little more? I can wait outside!”

Claude seemed to be in a bit of a... chaotic mood that night. He was usually fairly well-behaved while she was at work, letting Abigail follow Noona’s recipes and only speaking up to reprimand her for doing something wrong or remind her about something. But maybe he was bored. Or resentful about being a ghost. Who knew what went on in his head. Regardless, it was making things rather stressful for her.

He had insisted that she needed to tweak the risotto recipe, assuring her that an extra dash of tarragon here and a sprinkle of finely-diced chives there would go largely unnoticed but do wonders for the flavour of the dish. She had tried to ignore him. He had knocked an entire jar of garlic powder into the pan so that she had to start over. In the end, Claude got his way. Abigail just held her breath and hoped Viggo didn’t notice she wasn’t following the recipe to a T.

When a waiter came into the kitchen a little while later and pulled her aside, she was braced for the worst. But apparently the customer was pleased. Pleased enough that he wanted to have a word with her. Which was a relief - but also an annoyance, since it only validated and encouraged Claude’s meddling. She purposefully ignored the smug look on his face as she went out into the dining room and approached the happy customer, trying not to appear too awkward about the whole thing.

Abigail Shen as Starfire from Teen Titans

Attending the ball solo, Abigail decided to dress up as one of her favourite childhood heroes: Starfire. Since she is still relatively new to the island, she is hoping to make a lot of new friends - and she really hopes there will not be too many ghosts in attendance.

sugar crush

@mpxabigail

what better job for a former business empire heir and retired model than to make coffee and serve it to people just trying to get a pick-me-up on their heavy days? loren feels perfectly at ease among the bags of coffee beans, takeaway cups and the glass counter that gives every customer a perfect view of his handlings, but also gives him a perfect view of every customer.

so let it be known that he enjoys his work, and he enjoys people watching, but what he enjoys most is handing drinks to complete strangers and letting them be accompanied by nice and flowery words and one of his signature charming smiles. so that’s exactly what he does most of the time with every customer that passes him by, gender notwithstanding.

“a refreshing drink for a refreshing face,” he declares as he passes the order to the customer who just took it, greeting them a good day and then turning to the next in line, a beautiful young lady he thinks could get a modelling career of her own, really. “what can i get for you, beautiful?” he chimes lightly, finger already hovering over the screen of his register to tap her order into the system.

Abigail had been frequenting the coffee shop lately. Between long shifts at Noona and extra cooking practice she was doing at home with Claude’s help, she definitely felt like she needed caffeine to function most of the time. Which really did not bother her, because she was having a lot fun with it, despite everything.

So, when she walked into the Flower Mill that morning in leggings and a cropped sweatshirt, she had a certain pep in her step. She had just had a really good gym session, and her body was sore in that satisfying post-workout way - and while working out had helped energize her, she knew that espresso was going to be necessary unless she wanted to be yawning through her shift that evening.

mpxarawn​:

Arawn had been at the gala simply to supervise and make sure that no one was breaking any rules or doing anything illegal. As he sat at his table, sipping on a cup of tea (contrary to what most thought, arawn didn’t particularly enjoy alcohol too much), he gazed around the room. a lot of couples were taking the gala as date night, and a part of him envied that and another part of him liked the fact that he was there solo. it allowed for an unbiased view. 

however as he watched the crowd, something across the way made him stop and stare. his eyes narrowed as he processed what he was looking at. Claude Beaumont. what a shocker. He was pretty sure that the other had been dead, after all, he did recall meeting Melissa Beaumont briefly in the realm and of course, all the news outlets had covered his death extensively. after all, how could they not? the chef was a renowned restaunteur of french culinary experiences. The god shifted on his seat and made his way over to the ghost and his partner, corssing the ballroom, his steps easy and relaxed. the girl was fully not in trouble, he just wanted to have a serious chat.  

sitting next to her, he set the tea cup down and as she asked if he could see claude too, the celt nodded, choosing to first address the ghost. “Mr. Beaumont. It’s a delight to meet you in person. I had hoped that you would find your way to the afterlife on your own, but it seems you haven’t,” he states, very business like all the time. He then shifts his gaze to the girl. “well, ghosts and dead people happen to be my specialty, so i can see them  and I tend to….guide them to where they’re supposed to be,” he adds. he then looked at the ghost to her side. “But I suppose I can let Mr Beaumont go for a moment. I admired his tenacity and ambition. It’s a pity that the foodies lost a great mind,” he added, sipping his tea. 

the celt watched her closer, the way she spoke and her looks reminded him of someone. but that couldn’t be it. “So, tell me. What does a girl who has a ghostly chef mentor around her doing here?” he asked, trying to squish down the thought that had come to his mind. His daughter? Possibly. 

Abigail couldn’t help but just stare in surprise as Arawn chatted to Claude like they were old friends, talking about the afterlife so casually. It was bizarre. Or, anywhere else in the world it would have been bizarre. Maybe this was normal in Mount Phoenix. “Dead people are your specialty?” It sounded strange, but after thinking about it for a moment, she realized that it also applied to her. Technically, dead people were also her specialty. She was not sure how to feel about that.

Claude seemed as aloof as always, just giving Arawn a polite nod. He did seem to find her flustered reaction to the whole thing amusing, based on the way his lips twisted slightly, she noticed. The big talented dead jerk clearly didn’t know what it was like to not have complete and total confidence in yourself. She would have been falling over herself to try to explain why she hadn’t moved on to the afterlife if she were in his shoes.

“Um, I’m just... hanging out, I guess?” It was a stupid thing to say. She knew it was a stupid thing to say. But he seemed intimidating and she was kind of awkward at the best of times and the fact that he could see Claude made it feel like he had found out a personal secret about her. And besides all that, she could not really tell if he wanted her to tell him about herself or about her ghostly mentor. She was still a little worried that she would get into trouble if she said the wrong thing.

cooking prompts meme | accepting

An expression of pure delight spread across Abigail's face at Claire's words, although she was quick to laugh and shake her head. "You're way too kind! Do you really like it, though? I was so worried I was going to mess it up..."

It was, in fact, one of the first things she had cooked that Claude hadn't diligently instructed her on - and only because he wasn't very familiar with Korean food. "Since autumn and winter are coming up, I thought I'd try to teach myself some soup recipes. And kimchi jjagae seemed like a good place to start, since there's a lot of Koreans on the island... I think I might try oxtail soup next. My mom used to make it for me sometimes."

cooking prompts meme | accepting

"You didn't," Abigail blurted immediately, turning away from the scallions she had been chopping up to stare in horror at Yesenia and the empty jar of cayenne pepper in her hand. Oh no. Oh gods. Oh geez. This was so bad. But it was not like she could blame the other girl, because she had certainly made silly mistakes like that before, too.

"Do you think there's a way to save it?" It sounded like she was asking Yesenia, but her gaze had shifted just slightly to look at Claude, who was over by the stove. He sniffed the soup, made a face, and shook his head at her. Well, damn.

mpxnut​:

Nut found the Gala quite quaint. The demigods and gods all dressed their best. It was a true wonder of godly blood for everyone looked dazzling, warming her own heart. She had just finished her main course. Her hands gently lingered on the stem of her martini glass. A few demigods in the distance at gotten wrapped in the romance the night could offer, and she contently watched their dancing until the girl beside her spoke. 

The dessert that came before them looked completely delicious. The demigoddess’s amazement pulled another smile to the woman’s lips. The simplest pleasures. Nut did not hesitate to take a bite herself. Eons of cooking for mortals and god had allowed her to develop a refined palate, and she leaned over toward Abigail. 

“They used salted caramel fudge and Kahlua to achieve this taste.” Nut offers her a small head nod before she turned to her food. She takes another bite of the food with enjoyment. “And it tastes like real sea salt used with fudge. Whoever the chef was, they did a magnificent job.”

Abigail jolted slightly when a woman’s voice answered her question instead of Claude. He looked kind of annoyed by the interruption, she noted with a hint of amusement. She blinked, adjusting her gaze just slightly to land on the goddess, and tried to act like she had always been talking to her instead of a ghost chef. After all, this was an opportunity to make a living friend - and one that seemed to have quite the refined palate, at that.

“Really? Kahlua... That’s an alcohol, right?” It certainly wasn’t something she had ever worked with before, and she was not usually much of a drinker, but it sounded familiar all the same. She heard Claude scoff beside her. Nothing unusual there. He was usually rather exasperated by her astonishing lack of wits, as he had once put it when she had literally set the oven on fire. She had probably deserved that insult.

cooking prompts meme | accepting

Abigail immediately paused when she heard Viggo's warning, just stopping herself from dropping the knife and stepping away from the counter as if she was a child who had been scolded for doing something too dangerous. She would readily admit that chopping was not really her forte, especially when it came to harder or more awkwardly-shaped vegetables, so she was not too discouraged that he had felt the need to step in.

She watched his technique for a moment, brow slightly furrowed in concentration. It was hard to imagine that she would ever be able to do it as smoothly and efficiently as he did - but that didn't mean she was not going to try. She carefully repositioned her hands and began again, slowly at first to get the hang of it.

cooking prompts meme | accepting

Abigail's face fell at the initial question, and she glanced back at Claude in a panic to check if maybe he had his grumpy disapproving face on. But he didn't, which would be odd if she had gotten the recipe wrong. Salted caramel was such an easy thing to make, she had been sure she hadn't messed up...

mpxayden​:

At first, Ayden thought the lovely young lady had mistaken him for someone she knew. It wasn’t a secret that he could communicate in English well, but as they were on an island in South Korea, it wasn’t every day that a stranger aimed such a straightforward English question at him. She must be a new girl, he concluded, since the Inari’s son was proud of the fact that there were very few faces on the island he hadn’t known about just yet. 

“I’m so sorry, I…” The polite objection was right there on the tip of his tongue, waiting to be finished spoken out, but then his eyes met her smile. She looked all the more gorgeous smiling at him like that, even though a subtle hint of strain around the lip corners was visible. And when the enthusiastic promise came forwards, something clicked in his head, and Ayden intuitively knew that it was time to play along with whatever scene the demigoddess was trying to make for whoever to see. 

“Ah yes, of course!” Ayden cheered, eyes mimicked a crescent shape and lips curved up into a cheerful grin, an expression he hoped closely resemble the genuine joy that having a dance with a nice friend would bring. 

He held out a hand for her to take then led the way through the dancing crowd. He only stopped walking when they reached near the center of the dance floor, where he hoped to be far away enough from the thing that was bugging her. As they were having a slow dance just like the other pairs, Ayden finally asked in the most tender way possible, “You okay?”

Abigail let out a breath she had been holding when he agreed to dance, feeling some of the tension leave her shoulders. Mission success. For a second there, she had thought that he would say no and she would just have to make a run for it into the crowd or something like that. This was definitely a much cleaner way of getting out of the uncomfortable situation.

So, she took his hand and let him lead the way onto the dance floor, being very careful to keep her promise of not stepping on his toes as they began to dance. “Yes, thank you... Sorry, I know that was kind of weird. Some guy was coming on a bit too strong, and you were the first person I spotted, so...” It sounded kind of silly to her now, and she hoped that he didn’t think she was annoying or melodramatic because of it. She had just been getting bad vibes from the guy, so an escape had seemed necessary.

vulpe-mp​:

Social events were a big part of Vulpe’s upbringing; gala’s, charity event, business gatherings and the like. It was second nature to the 26-year-old, yet he found himself alone with a glass of red wine in his hand, somewhere off to the side. Being in a room full of powerful gods and demigods - despite being a demigod himself - was somewhat intimidating. He felt awkward and out of place. The language was also something the Londoner was self-conscious about. His glass now empty, the white haired man was ready to socialize. Spotting a man he tried to actively avoid, he turned around, his eyes meeting a small, redheaded girl. “Hm… It’s…” the demigod blanked trying to find a word other than nice. He didn’t want the girl to wait for a response however, so settled with ‘beautiful’. “Yea, I’m alone–” Vulpe answered, his accent definitely gave away the dancer wasn’t from here.

Abigail nodded, perhaps more in agreement with the general vibe Vulpe was giving off than necessarily his actual words. She could tell that he felt similarly to her, and it was rather comforting to know that she was not the only one who felt like they maybe didn’t belong there - at the party or on the island or in any other sense.

“I’m Abigail, by the way. I just arrived on the island today.” She paused, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m from Canada. You sound like you’re not from here either?” Was that rude to say? It was a strange island, so she was not really sure what the social etiquette there was. What was okay to ask other people. Hopefully he did not somehow take it the wrong way.